Tried and True Tuesday

Happy Tuesday.

What is the best way to get me to blog? Having a daily topic. I have Sunday Confessions and Thursday's "Would you Rather?". Now I am happy to debut Tried and True Tuesdays.

Every Tuesday I will share recipes, techniques, parenting tips, ways to use peanut butter that you never thought of, best tweezers to pluck nose hairs, myth busters, etc.

Anything that I have tried and know it works, I am going to pass that knowledge along to you.

This week is my Cookie Bar recipe. Do you ever make cookies and get tired of having to scoop dough and bake over and over again? I do. After the second cookie sheet I am usually tired or busy doing something else. That is how I discovered this recipe.

I wanted something which could be finished in one batch. Here are some of the rave comments I've had about these: "out of this world" and "the best cookies ever". I thought it time to share my secret with you. My secret is Martha Stewart. It is not my recipe at all. I did discover it and I tested it -- many many times. Now I am happy to share it with you:

Ingredients (my variations are in red)
Makes 16.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan (I don't like mine melted. I just use softened)
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (make sure to use the good stuff-I personally like Mexican Vanilla)
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate chunks instead- these you can find in your regular grocery store and they are pretty good and priced well)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with butter; line pan with a piece of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter paper.
In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugars until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Fold in 1/2 cup each chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and walnuts.

Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack, and let cool completely. Using parchment overhang, lift cake from pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.